A man accused of embezzling $365,000 from Ryan Sheckler – a top professional skater, X Games champion and the star of an MTV reality show – spent 18 days in jail for his crime and is required to repay less than half of that amount.
The arrest of Matthew Mercuro on embezzlement charges in November was reported by many newspapers and Internet news sites after the Orange County District Attorney's office issued a press release, but the case came to a quiet end after accusations of misconduct were leveled against the investigating detective.
Officer Mark Garcia of the Huntington Beach Police Department investigated the crime, even though the involved parties are from San Clemente. Garcia was recently transferred from the detective bureau to patrol after his department's Professional Standards Bureau opened an investigation into his relationship with the Sheckler family.
The investigation centers on whether Garcia worked as a bodyguard for Sheckler, either for money or out of friendship with Sheckler's father, Randy.
Garcia did not have department authorization to work for the Shecklers, said Huntington Beach Lt. Russ Reinhart. Reinhart declined further comment.
Outside his jurisdiction
Garcia also had no reason to be working a case outside his jurisdiction, said Mercuro's defense attorney, Eric N. Hansen.
On Jan. 11 – less than two months after his arrest – Mercuro took a plea deal and was convicted of two felony counts of grand theft. He was sentenced to the 18 days in jail he had served, given three years of formal probation and ordered to repay $150,000 he had admitted taking. Once he repays the first $100,000, the felonies will become misdemeanors and his probation becomes informal, according to court records.
Mercuro was chief financial officer for several companies owned by Sheckler.
Mercuro was initially accused of taking around $365,000. In court documents, Garcia wrote that he had found $351,899.80 in transfers from Sheckler's accounts to Mercuro's personal account, to a joint account in the name of his wife Janelle Mercuro and her friend Sharm Loehmann, and to an account in the name of Inland Properties. There was also around $23,200 in cash withdrawals, according to a search warrant.
The transactions were made on 34 separate dates specified in a search warrant.
Garcia started his investigation after Sheckler and his mother Gretchen told him Mercuro had been making transfers without their knowledge or permission, according to a search warrant. Initially, Gretchen Sheckler told Garcia that Mercuro had taken around $270,000.
Deputy District Attorney Brian G. Mulherin, who prosecuted the case, said that the plea deal for $150,000 was reached because there were some "uncertainties" about how much money was stolen.
He downplayed the effect that Garcia's apparent conflict-of-interest had in weakening the case, saying that it was difficult to establish an exact amount that had been taken.
"When you're dealing with a business that has significant out-of-pocket expenses, you're not necessarily going to be able to come to an exact dollar figure," Mulherin said.
Amount reduced
So how did $351,899.80 become $150,000?
According to court records and Mulherin, Mercuro admitted (as part of his deal) to taking $65,495.22 from an account known as Sheckler Merch 2 and making $75,000 in transfers to Inland Properties.
That left $211,404 in transfers unaccounted for. That amount was reduced to $10,504.48, making for a total of an even $150,000.
The prosecution couldn't prove all of the transfers were theft, Mulherin said, so "we reached a compromise number as to the difference."
Mercuro, however, had already admitted to taking "about $270,000," according to a search warrant. But the person who would have to testify to that admission was Garcia.
If Garcia took the stand, the defense could cross-examine him about his relationship with the Shecklers
How much did Garcia undermine the case?
"I'm not going to put a percentage on it," Mulherin said. "The strength of an embezzlement case is the bank statements."
District attorney spokeswoman Farrah Emami argued that Mercuro's sentence was not unusually light, pointing to Clifford Polston, the former head of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tustin. In November, Polston was given a sentence of probation, community service� and $140,000 in restitution after taking nearly $200,000 from the clubs.
Mulherin pointed to a case resolved last week where an employee who stole at least $13,000 was given probation.
Some harsher punishments
In other recent cases, embezzlers were given harsher punishments.
This month, Bridget Dominique Ganier was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to return $306,000 she had taken from a cafeteria at Orange Coast Medical Center.
In June, Yorba Linda pastors Philip and Richard Cunningham were sentenced to two years in prison, even after returning $3 million in property to their church.
In November, Tracy Lynn Salcido, former CFO of Orangewood Children's Foundation, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for embezzling $780,000.
Garcia and Sheckler did not return calls for comment.
Janelle Mercuro and Sharm Loehmann have not been charged with a crime.
Hansen, Mercuro's attorney, issued a statement: "Mr. Mercuro is moving forward with his life and has full confidence in the HBPD's Professional Standards Unit and Chief (Kenneth) Small to conduct a thorough and fair investigation into the serious allegations of misconduct by HBPD Det. Mark Garcia."
Contact the writer: jcassidy@ocregister.com or 714-704-3782source:
OC Register
